New York City
Politics of New York City in 21 century Politics of New York City in 21 century The politics of New York State is tend to democratic. More than 59% of the citizens support for the democracy party of the United State. Most of the advocators are from the New York City and some suburban district of it. The incumbent mayor Bill de Blasio is also a democrat. On the other hand, most of the people who support for the Republican Party live in the places where far away from the city. Government of New York The government of New York is consist of three separate departments: executive, legislation and judicial. The legislative department include senate and assembly, these two branches have different leaders which are the president and the speaker. The president of the senate has the right to break the impasse but for most of the times, the right is performed by a temporary president. The legislature has right to create laws or reject a proposal. The judicial branch has the responsibility to ensure the justification of the law and to solve conflicts. It is composed of court of appeal which is the highest court and courts below. The government of New York City is very centralized and is respond for all of the public institutions in the city such as libraries and recreational facilities. Party balance of New York State legislature The assembly has been controlled by democrats for a long time. Therefore three significant person make decisions when they reach accordance. The State senate was dominated by republicans until 2008. However, the Democratic Party took the right of control in 2008. Although democrats won the right to control senate, they did not win many seats in rural areas. Because of the distributions of democrats and republicans are totally different, the apportionment of assembly are big cities and the apportionment of senate are more like country and villages. Current event New York State legalized same sex marriage in June 2011. Although the senate declined the same sex marriage proposal in December, there are still a lot of people who support the approval of same sex marriage. The governor of the state David Paterson decided to introduce the legalization of same sex marriage in 2004 since more and more people realized the benefits of the admission of same sex marriage performed in other states. Economic History in the twenty-first century New York City is the largest regional economy in the world. It is famous for its highly developed economy. Because of the globalized environment, New York City attracts investment from the whole world. 193 permanent missions, 114 consulates, 75 trade commissions, and almost 2,000 foreign companies are located in New York City. Therefore, diverse industries form New York City’s economic ecosystem. There are five sectors that contribute to most of New York City’s economy—real estate, finance, information technology, health care and biomedical, and manufacturing. The gross metropolitan product of the New York City reached $1.55 trillion. Financial services is the biggest component of New York City’s economy. NASDAQ, the New York Stock Exchange, etc. are all located in Wall Street. These exchanges hold huge amount of money daily and serve for all kinds of economic activities. Due to that, financial services contribute to 35 percent of New York City’s employment income. The financial workers earn more than half of the wages of the whole city. Manhattan is the center of New York City. There are a large number of commercial, trade and insurance companies in Manhattan. Manhattan is one of the wealthiest areas all over the world. The world-famous Wall Street financial district, which includes several tens of large banks, exchanges, and headquarters of hundreds big firms, is located in Manhattan. Financial sector, corporate sector, technology sector, tourism, real estate, media, and television, radio and film are the seven most important components to New York City’s economy. Manhattan is the core area of the USA business. Furthermore, Wall Street, the 1.1-km-long street, is the core of Manhattan. Wall Street contains important financial markets and is known as the home of the New York Stock Exchange. NASDAQ, the New York Mercantile Exchange, and the New York Board of Trade are all located in Wall Street and that make Wall Street the financial heart of the world. Real estate is a very important element that contributes to economy in New York City. The value of Manhattan property was $802.4 billion. (Economy of New York City) Work office space in the center of New York City is extremely expensive, for instance, 450 Park Avenue was sold for $510 million and broke the record that American office building kept. Because of New York City’s economic status, it appeals large companies to headquarter in it. Also, it makes real estate economy in New York City stronger and stronger. In the center of Manhattan locates Silicon Alley, the high-tech agglomeration, includes Internet, digital media, biotechnology and so on. Inside Silicon Alley, there is a thorough ecosystem involving entrepreneurship and venture capital investments. There is a growing trend of high-tech startup corporations in New York City which indicates information technology would play a significant role in New York City’s economy. Manufacturing is another sector of New York City that shares a large number of employment. In Manhattan, clothing, chemicals, and other handmade products are mainstream products. Small businesses are popular in New York City. Since 2001, New York City’s GDP has grown from $974.16 billion to $1,471.17 billion nowadays. Suffered from financial crisis of 2007-08, it slowed the growth of New York City’s GDP but did not make GDP decrease. During 2008, 100,000 jobs were lost in private sector, mostly were in financial and professional services, media and advertising, retail and entertainment, and travel and tourism. Traditional media industry lost 20-30% revenues. Retail sales dropped 8-10% and residential sales dropped 50% compared to 2007. It was a big frustration. However, after several years, New York City has been recovering from financial crisis and still retains its economic advanced status in the world. Famous architecture of New York Intro: New York is a big city of economy. This goes with the advanced development of architecture. Architecture is one of the important proofs for the strong economy of an area. New York has diverse architecture for multiple purposes. Below are some of the famous architecture of New York. Skyscrapers The Empire State Building, designed by William F. Lamb, is a famous 103-story skyscraper in New York City and has a height of 472.4 meters(1550 feet) including its antenna spire. It is the fourth highest building in the US and the fifteenth highest in the world. The Empire State Building is situated in Midtown Manhattan, at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. The construction of it started in 1930 and finished in 1931, consuming only 410 days, which was the fastest speed to construct a skyscraper. Its name was from the nickname of the New York State - Empire State, meaning the building of the New York State. The American Society of Civil Engineers named it as one of the seven wonders of the modern world. New Yorkers ingly called it the Empty State Building because of the lack of renters in Oct 11,2010, but it is now still a symbol of New York together with the Statue of Liberty. The offices in the building are mostly rented by financial, tourism and insurance companies. Many movies and TV series shot a scene of the Empire State Building, like King Kong, Sleepless in Seattle and Gossip Girl. World Trade Center, once located in Financial District neighborhood of Manhattan, were designed by a Japanese-American architect, Minoru Yamasaki. The Twin Towers opened in April 4, 1973. They were once the highest towers in the world with heights of 417 meters (1368 feet), but were destroyed in the September 11 attacks when two hijacked planes controlled by terrorists intentionally crashed into the towers in 2001. Now the site is known as “Ground Zero” and attracts thousands of visitors. Near the site is the new World Trade Center being constructed, including six new skyscrapers and a memorial museum. One World Trade Center was competed on November, 12, 2013, followed by Four World Trade Center completed two days later. The height of One World Trade Center, 1776 feet (541.3 meters), is the year that the United States became independent. The spire is said to be in memory of the 9.11 attacks due to its closest distance to the heaven by the designer, Daniel Libeskind. The new World Trade Center is also a symbol that Americans never give in to the terrorist forces and stay strong. Transit Architecture Grand Central Terminal, designed and constructed by the Railroad Magnate, Vanderbilt family, was put in use in 1913. It is the biggest and busiest railway terminal with 44 platforms and 67 lines in total and meanwhile the transportation hub of New York’s railway and subway. The terminal is a great work of art. For example, someone pointed out that the painting on the ceiling was in the wrong direction of the sky. However, the designer explained that it is from the perspective of God who is outside the universe. Critic Tony Hiss commented Grand Central Terminal one of the country’s great architectural monuments- helped create Midtown Manhattan in his introduction of Grand Central Terminal. The terminal has been through 100 years with New York people and witnessed the development of New York City. The Brooklyn Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world, connects Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River. It was completed in 1883 and has a length of 1825 meters. The Brooklyn Bridge is designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1972 and honored as one of the seven architecture engineering projects in the world during the Industrial Revolution era. The designer was a Germany-American architect. But not long before the construction of the bridge, he died due to a tetanus infection. His son then took charge of the project but became paralyzed soon. He designed and finished the project at home with assistance of his wife. America issued a 20-cent stamp on the centennial of the bridge. Under the bridge, there was a big storage in secret in case of nuclear war during the Cold War period. Now, numerous cars and pedestrians pass through the bridge everyday. Tourists can walk along the bridge to view the beautiful scenery. Museums Metropolitan Museum of Art, the biggest art museum in the US and one of the top ten art museums, is located on the eastern edge of Central Park. A group of American citizens including businessmen, financiers and leading artists founded the museum in 1880 in order to bring art and art education to Americans. Comparing with the Forbidden City, it only covers ninth of the Forbidden City but has twice the exhibition area. It has 3 million collections from all over the world in the museum and the most famous one is the Egyptian tombs which can date back to 2460 years ago. Across the street is another famous museum, the American Museum of Natural History. One of the founders, Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., the father of the twenty-sixth President, his proposal won the support of the New York Government with his powerful backup. The museum was founded in 1869. It has a strong navigation system so that visitors can better understand the abundant resources and redefine the concept of visiting a museum in the 21st century, said Ellen Foote, the Curator of the museum. The museum is not only for visit but also dedicated to the education of natural history. Churches The Cathedral Church of St.John the Divine, the fourth largest Christian church in the world, is situated on Amsterdam Avenue between 110th and 113th Streets, Manhattan. It is an episcopal church in America. The style of the church varied from Romanesque Revival (1892~1911) to Gothic Revival (1916~1941). One of the biggest sculptures in the United States, Phoenix which is designed by Chinese sculptor Xubing, is displayed in the church for the 2014 year. As organs are part of the church, they undoubtedly play an important part in the religious affairs. The Great Organ in the Cathedral Church of St.John the Divine is one of the five biggest organs in the world. Organs are great work of arts. Therefore, they dedicate not only to Christian but also to music. History of hip-hop culture in New York Hip-hop music is a kind of music with strong rhythm, and it was a quick communication about the struggle of life and the difficulties from the life. After hip-hop music became more popular, it was more used by some gangsta, they talked about their hard life and how they fight. After that, the hip-hop music was used to talk about some dissatisfied for life. They complain about the unfair of life and the huge gap in the rich people and poor people. Those are hip-hop music’s origins. Hip-hop music was created in 1990s, One man named Bronx Melle, he was the creator of hip-hop, he was born on May 15, 1961 in New York's Bronx Mel was the first one says it was "MC" rappers. Cowboy invented the term "Hip Hop", because he had to make fun of his friends, sing "Hip Hop/Hip/Hop" to describe his friend will face after military training queue, the shake of the bottom，that is" Hip Hop ". And rap is a black slang word, the equivalent of "talk", produced in poor black neighborhoods in New York. Why people created hip-hop music? The reason for this question is that here are lots of things people want to complain about, but they don’t know how to describable, so they make the unhappy and mad in to music. When a lot of people heard about hip-hop music, they fall in love with it because it has strong rhythm and the truth of life, the responses for hip-hop music is someone like and someone dislike it. Why people like it? It’s talking about their struggle with life and the troubles they are in, so they like it. Why some people don’t like it? It’s full of violence and bad words, so some people don’t like it. For example, young man like the hip-hop music, because they think the music is true and the lyric is cool, for some politicians, they think it’s vulgar and meaningless. There are lots of good hip-hop singers are from New York City. For example, here is one person named Christopher Wallace, was the greatest rapper for New York City, for east coast. His nick name is biggy, biggie or big because he is so fat and so big. He was born on may 21, 1972, in Queen Mary Hospital, grew up in Brooklyn, he was the king of hip-hop. He won lots of different kinds of awards, like best rapper, best lyric, and won the rap solo every year. He has his own style, so he can become so popular, he added some R&B in to his rap songs, for example, Everyday Struggle is one of his songs, it’s a story about his struggle life and it’s suitable for people when things are not going right in their life, he struggles with money and fear to death. Some people are in the same condition as him, they can understand the lyric and know the story, so people listen to his songs and this is why people like hip-hop. Here is another one of the greatest rapper of American named Tupac Amaru Shakur is also from Brooklyn, New York City. He is what people called “2Pac” and he used to be the good friend of Biggy, and 2Pac’s help is the basis of Biggy’s success. He has different style from Biggy, he always sings about criminal things and thins for gangs. Both of Biggy and 2Pac, when they are in the studio, they must need to drink a lot of alcohol, and smoke a lot of weeds. They said it’s helpful for finding the inspirations. Because the battle of east coast and west coast, they broken up and both died for this hip-hop war. For those years, more people know hip-hop music and they begin to listen to hip-hop music, it becomes international. For different country, they have different ideas for hip-hop music. In china, it can’t be accept by lots of people because the lyric is full of bad words and full of violence. But it’s different now, more and more young people like hip-hop music because the hip-hop music in China changes a lot. The lyric becomes more positive and can be helpful when people are in the struggle with life. In different countries, they have their own ideas for hip-hop music, but one thing can be sure is that the hip-hop music become more international and more people like it. Famous people who live in New York New York is one of the most diverse states in the United States, with a wide range of ethnicities, cultures, races, and religion. New York City, in particular, contains some of the most artistic and well-versed people in the country. There are almost 200 different kinds of languages are spoken in that city. There are both rich and poor people in New York, rude and polite, and young and old. In New York, you're bound to find at least one person that fits any given description you can think of. A lot of the famous people come from the global to live in this city. The New York City has the biggest effects toward the America and the whole world. So there are many important people are living in the New York City. This is one more reason why New York City is a city that can not be placed by other cities. Since the New York City is such an important place. And the New York City leads the fashion, economy, entertainment, education of the country. Many celebrities are currently living in the New York City. Such the popular singers, politicians, arts, sports players, and the movie starts. I give you a huge list of all the people. For example, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Leonardo DiCaprio, Beyonce, Lang Lang. Besides those people, there are still a lot famous people who live in New York City. Madonna Madonna,she is a very successful and well-known woman. She is fifty-one years old, but she still looks very amazing. You can read her facial expression on her face. Her fans can feel how hard she tries to stay strong for them. She works hard to complish her goal. She is just like a queen of her world. She longs to be succeed. Everyone can see that she wants the triumph. She fully focuses on music. Madonna is ready to face every challenge that the life will give her and the rumours that she will need to go through. Many teenagers like the way she is and set her like a role model for their career life. Lady Gaga Lady Gaga, a super pop star. She is so popular and different that everyone will remember her. She was born in a very rich Italian family. And Lady Gaga is the oldest kid. She was born with the great strength of the music. She started learning piano who she was only four years old. She wrote her first song by piano when she was thirteen. After she became fourteen, she started performing on the stages. When Lady Gaga was 17 she got accepted by the University of New York. She focused on the art of the music, and also the religion and government part. After a while, she droped out from the school and she moved out from her parents’ house as well. Lady Gaga started performing in the town with Mackin Pulsifer and SGBand. There are many people love Lady Gaga, but at the same time, there are many people hate her also. She still keeps her own style and showed the audiences that how much she can do. Lady Gaga also use her creative to create her own songs. She is also a good example of trying hard and to reach the goals. Leonardo DiCaprio If you ever watched the movie “''Titanic''”, you will remember the main male character of the movie. Leonardo DiCaprio was born in Los Angels, California. He was not interested in studying at all, especially math. So finally he chose to shoot movies and dramas. His first drama was taken when he was five years old. But he was refused to be an actor when he was ten years old. The reason was they didn’t like the way his hair looked, and they didn’t like his name. The stuff suggested him to change his name to Lanny Williams. Until him got to twelve years old, he already had over fifty times of the interviews. He finally got a chance to be in a very short vehicle advertisement. When he was fourteen, there was another company that accepted him. He could have chance to make more dramas again. In that year, he was in the drama “''Santa Barbara''” and “''The New Cl''assic”. He got more chances along the years. He was approved by his audiences. He can act the main charters in more movies. He never gave up when he was at his worst. He had a hardest time, but he even tried harder to finish his dream. He showed the whole world that he is a great actor. He can handle more than other actors do. He puts his every effort to make the charter as real as possible. Beyonce Beyonce, Beyonce’s full name is Beyonce Giselle Knowles. She was born in Huston, Texas. In the year 1993, she became a group name as “Destiny's Child” with leToya Luckett, LaTavia Roberson and Kelendria Rowland. In the year 2003, she left the group and started her own music life. She came out her first album. She started her world and she became very famous. She earned many rewards during these years. Lang Lang Lang Lang, a Chinese pianist, who is so blessed with the music strength. He has a huge group of fans. All the parents want their kids to be Lang Lang’s students. They think that Lang Lang is the best piano player in this world. He started learning piano whenhe was two years and half old. He watched the carton named “''Tom and Jerry''”. He had so much interest on the piano songs so he started learning piano by himself. He wanted to have a pair hands that can be compared to the magicians. He went to many competitions in many countries. Such as America, Germany, Japan. Lang Lang said that Chicago is his “lucky city”. He had his most important memories in that city. Lang Lang’s hands were injured once because he practiced too much. He took couple months off to travel inside of the China. After that period of time, he got adifferent view of the way he understands the world. He never stopped practicing during those years. Day after days, year after years, he practiced over thirty years. Finally he can be so successful as today. According to the statistics data, it shows that most of the celebrities live on the Upper West Side in the New York City. The Rentenna(one of the website that does the research on the mapping about the famous people who live in New York City) This area is the most popular place that the famous people live in. 71 out of the 237 celebrities live in there. The second most popular area is Upper East Side. 20 out of the 237 celebrities live there. [http://www.nytimes.com New York Times website]